Commonly-used acronyms and abbreviations used in education and in particular in relation to technology are presented below. Please understand that this is not a comprehensive list but it is updated periodically.
504 or 504 Plan - Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 504 is a federal law designed to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities in programs and activities that receive Federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education.
AAC - Alternative Augmentative Communication. AAC describes multiple ways to communicate that can supplement or compensate (either temporarily or permanently) for the impairment and disability patterns of individuals with severe expressive communication disorders
AAO - Achievement Assessments Office (Employees Only). The SFUSD office responsible for coordinating standardized testing and student assessments.
AAALI - The African American Achievement and Leadership Initiative. Provides recommendations to SFUSD leadership to interrupt the inequitable pattern of outcomes for African American students.
AAPAC - African American Parent Advisory Committee. Provides a forum to hear the ideas of the SFUSD’s African American families, and respond to those ideas by educating and informing parents of district resources, policies, and programs.
ADA - Average Daily Attendance (also see next entry). This is the basis for a majority of the SFUSD's funding from the State of California. It is calculated by the total number of days of student attendance divided by the total number of instructional days in the regular school year.
ADA - Americans with Disabilities Act (also see above entry). The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in several areas, including employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications and access to state and local government' programs and services.
AP - Assistant Principal, Advanced Placement, or Access Point.
ATIC - Assistive Technology Innovation Center. The Special Education Department ATIC's mission is to make sure all students with disabilities have access to the technology they need to access their education.
AUP - Technology Acceptable Use and Security Policy. A form that details the responsibilities of each employee or non-employee who uses the SFUSD data networks. Each employee and non-employee must have a signed AUP on file in order to utilize the SFUSD data networks and/or digital resources.
AVID - Advancement Via Individual Determination. A college preparatory program for students in the "academic middle." These students are typically the first in their immediate family to attend college and fall into underrepresented groups on post secondary campuses.
BOE - Board of Education. The SFUSD's governing body that is elected at large by the voters of the City of San Francisco.
BSC - Balanced Score Card. A strategic planning and management system used to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the SFUSD, improve internal and external communications, and monitor organizational performance against strategic goals.
BTSA - Beginning Teacher & Assessment. San Francisco Unified's CCTC approved BTSA/Induction Program is designed for teachers with CA Preliminary General Education Credentials. This program provides individual coaching and specific professional development based on the California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP) and Induction Standards. BTSA/Induction teachers will receive two years of targeted coaching and formative assessment provided by an experienced support provider. Once BTSA/Induction teachers have successfully completed all Induction requirements, they can apply for their Clear Credential.
CAASPP - California Assessment of Student Performance & Progress System (formerly STAR). California's statewide student assessment system. The primary purpose of the CAASPP System is to assist teachers, administrators, students, and parents by promoting high-quality teaching and learning through the use of a variety of assessment approaches and item types.
CAC - Community Advisory Committee. CACs are a collection of individuals who bring unique knowledge and skills which advise the Board of Education. A variety of CACs exist for various purposes. The advisory committees do not have authority to govern, that is, the advisory committees cannot issue directives nor adopt polices. Rather, the CACs serve to make recommendations and/or provide key information and
materials to the Board of Education.
CALPADS - California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System. A state-wide system that is the foundation of California's K-12 education data system that allows for tracking a student's academic performance over time.
CAHSEE - California High School Exit Exam. Formerly, all California high school students were required to pass this test to earn a high school diploma. The test helps to ensure that students graduate from high school with grade-level skills in reading, writing, and math. The requirement for students to pass CAHSEE in order to graduate from high school was permanently suspended by the State of California by Senate Bill (SB) 172, signed by the governor on October 7, 2015.
CBO - Community-based organization. An organization operated by a non-profit agency, community coalition, local city, or other public organization which has as its mission services to people within the community.
CBOC - Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee. The committee reviews the spending of Bond funds and report their findings to the general public.
CCEIS - Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services. Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS) is a sanction in the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Under this sanction, 15% of the federal IDEA annual grants is set aside to invest in general education to interrupt disproportionate representation in special education. CCEIS are for children in those groups that were significantly over-identified from age 3 through grade 12. These set aside funds focus particularly, but not exclusively, on the children in those groups that were significantly over-identified. These funds are used to serve children not currently identified as needing special education or related services, but who need additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in a general education environment.
CCSS - Common Core State Standards curriculum set by the CDE.
CCTC - California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing is an agency in the Executive Branch of California State Government. It was created in 1970 by the Ryan Act and is the oldest of the autonomous state standards boards in the nation. The major purpose of the agency is to serve as a state standards board for educator preparation for the public schools of California, the licensing and credentialing of professional educators in the State, the enforcement of professional practices of educators, and the discipline of credential holders in the State of California.
CDE - California Department of Education.
CELDT - California English Language Development Test. Students in kindergarten through grade twelve whose home language is not English are required by law to take an English skills test. In California, the test is called the CELDT. This test helps schools identify students who need to improve their skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English.
C&I - SFUSD Curriculum & Instruction Department.
CIF - California Interscholastic Federation.
CIPA - Child Internet Protection Act. Federal law enacted by Congress to address concerns about children’s access to obscene or harmful content over the Internet.
CHKS - California Healthy Kids Survey. An anonymous, confidential survey of school climate and safety, student wellness, and youth resiliency. Administered to students at grades five, seven, nine, and eleven, it enables schools and communities to analyze data regarding local youth health risks and behaviors, school connectedness, school climate, protective factors, and school violence.
CSOC - Charter Schools Oversight Committee. The CSOC advises the Board o fEducation and increases oversight, transparency, and accountability for charter schools.
DELAC or ELAC - District English Learner Advisory Committee.
DoT - Department of Technology.
ED-FI - The Ed-Fi Data Standard is a set of rules that allow (previously disconnected) educational data systems to connect. Any educational technology that’s powered by Ed-Fi—whether a student information system, a rostering tool, assessment software, etc.—can connect with any other.
EED - Early Education Department. Early education programs co-located in an SFUSD Elementary School, normally managed by the EED site administrator.
EED OST - Early Education Department Out-of-School Time Program at an SFUSD Elementary School, normally managed by an EED site administrator.
EES - Early Education School stand-alone site housing any combination of Infant/Toddler, PK, TK, OST classrooms.
ExCEL - After School Programs (Academic, Enrichment & Recreation). Information for families.
EIS - Employee Information System, usually referring to EMPowerSF.
EL - English Learner. A student learning the English language.
ELL - English Language Learner. A student learning the English language.
EPC - Educational Placement Center. The SFUSD's student enrollment/placement office.
EY - Elementary Year. A school term designation in Synergy SIS that indicates that an elementary school class section meets during the the entire school year.
FAFSA - Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
F&P - Fountas & Pinnell. The Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System for elementary school students.
FERPA - Family Educational Right & Protection Act. Federal law enacted by Congress that protects the privacy of student education records.
FTE - Full-Time Equivalent. A unit that indicates the workload of an employee in a way that makes workloads comparable across various contexts. For example: An FTE of 1.0 means that the person is equivalent to a full-time worker, while an FTE of 0.5 signals that the worker is only half-time.
FY - Full Year. A school term designation in Synergy SIS that indicates that a class section meets during the the entire school year. Typically used in secondary and K-8 schools.
FYIT - Foster and Youth in Transition.
G4A - Gradebook for All. The DoT project to implement the online classroom portal for students, teacher, and parents/guardians. Click here for more information.
GAFE - Google Apps for Education.
GATE - Gifted and Talented Education.
HCBM - Human Capital & Budget Management. A joint project between the Department of Technology and the Finance to replace the aging human resource and finance systems utilized in the SFUSD.
IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The federal special education law designed to protect the rights of students with disabilities by ensuring that everyone receives a free appropriate public education, regardless of ability.
IEP - Individualized Education Program. A document that spells out an individual special education student's learning needs, the services the school will provide, and how progress will be measured.
IP or IP Address - Internet Protocol Address. A numerical address assigned to each device (e.g., computer, iPad, Chromebook, printer, etc.) participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.
IRF - Instructional reform facilitator. The Instructional Reform Facilitator (IRF) is a centrally
assigned school improvement and literacy coach position and is responsible for coordinating and supporting all aspects of instructional reform at STAR, Program Improvement, and SIG schools (low-performing schools).
IT - Information Technology.
LEAD - SFUSD Leadership, Equity and Design Department - The department consisting of the administrative office that oversee school operations. Each area, or Cohort, of school operations is headed by an assistant superintended supported by an executive director and others.
L4E - Laptops for Educators - The SFUSD plan to distribute laptop computers to eligible teachers and school administrators, among other eligible certificated staff.
LEA - Local Education Agency. The SFUSD is an LEA.
LCAP - Local Control Accountability Plan. The LCAP is a tool for local educational agencies to set goals, plan actions, and leverage resources to meet those goals to improve student outcomes. Also see SFUSD LCAP.
LCFF - Local Control Funding Formula. With LCFF, school districts serving high-needs students receive more funds, based on the number and percentages of high-needs students they serve.
LDAP - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. An open industry standard application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol (IP) network that allows the sharing of information about users, systems, networks, services, and applications throughout the network.
NOC - Network Operations Center.
MTSS - Multi-Tiered System of Supports. Beginning in Fall 2012, SFUSD introduced a comprehensive system-wide strategy to address equity throughout the district: the Multi-Tiered System of Supports. Through a diagnostic cluster analysis of schools, tiers were created based upon student and teacher characteristics, and enlisted departments across the district to meaningfully differentiate site support. In the same way that schools use student-level data to tier their interventions, MTSS is how the central office differentiates additional supports within our portfolio of schools.
MFIF - Multipurpose Family Income Form. A form submitted by parents/guardians that helps provide essential funding for SFUSD schools and determines eligibility for: free or reduced-price meals and P-EBT, discounts for home utilities and internet access, free enrollment in afterschool programs, and SAT fee waivers.
OASIS - Opportunities (for staff, students and families); Announcements (information and news for staff); Site to do’s (action items a site must complete and submit); and other Important
Stuff (policy and system updates, etc.) A weekly electronic bulletin distributed via email to all SFUSD employees.
OPLL - Office of Professional Learning & Leadership. An Office of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction.
PEEF - Public Education Enrichment Fund.
PreK, Pre-K, PK - Pre-Kindergarten. An Early Education Department program co-located in an SFUSD Elementary School, normally managed by the elementary school principal.
RPA - The SFUSD Research, Planning & Accountability Office.
RTI2 - Response to Instruction and Intervention. A systematic approach for organizing the efforts of an entire school so that ALL PK-12 students benefit from effective and differentiated teaching and learning. Students with additional needs receive targeted, effective supplemental support.
S1 - Semester 1. A school term designation in Synergy SIS that indicates that a class section meets during the first/fall semester of the school year. Typically used in secondary and K-8 schools.
S2 - Semester 2. A school term designation in Synergy SIS that indicates that a class section meets during the second/spring semester of the school year. Typically used in secondary and K-8 schools.
SAC - Student Advisory Council - A youth-led organization committed to providing a voice for students by representing and presenting the instrests of students to the administrative and policy-making bodies of the SFUSD.
SAM - Student Achievement Manager. A tool to access Reading Inventory reports and then analyze the results to inform instruction.
SAML - Security Assertion Markup Language. An open technology standard that allows identity providers to pass authorization credentials to service providers.; simply put, one set of credentials may be used to log into many different websites.
SAP - Student Assistance Program. SAP is a “learning support” umbrella structure that brings together all support service providers at a school site. The SAP provides early identification, assessment, referral, support, and service coordination for students experiencing academic, attendance, behavior/social, or health problems that impact school success.
SBA - Smarter Balanced Assessment. See SBAC below.
SBAC - Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is a public agency. The Smarter Balances Assessment, or SBA, is an online assessment system aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Assessments are administered in English and math for grades 3–8 and high school.
SBRC - Standards-Based Report Cards. Elementary grade-level report cards in which students are assessed on their knowledge of a number of grade-level specific standards rather than generic subject areas like English, Math, Science, etc.
SELPA - Special Education Local Plan Area. A consortium of school districts and/or county offices of education formed in a geographical region to provide for special education service needs of children residing within the region boundaries.
SDAIE - Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English. A teaching approach intended for teaching various academic content (such as social studies, science or literature) using the English language to students who are still learning English.
SDRP - SFUSD Information Technology Department Student Data Redesign Project (overseeing the deployment of the Synergy Student Information System). Currently disbanded.
SEIS - Special Education Information System.
SFCSD - Student, Family & Community Support Department.
SFUSD - San Francisco Unified School District.
SIS - Student Information System. Synergy SIS is the SFUSD student data system of record.
SPSA - Single Plan for Student Achievement. A school site plan that articulates key areas of work, which was identified through data analysis, to achieve districtwide goals.
SSC - School Site Council. A group at each school representing parents, students, community members, and school staff in the school governance process.
SSSR - Safe and Supportive Schools Resolution. San Francisco Board of Education's adopted Safe and Supportive Schools Resolution. SFUSD has committed to providing staff with tools to positively engage students through full implementation of School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (SWPBIS) and Restorative Practices (RP), including Trauma-informed Practices that establish high behavior expectations of students in a bias free and culturally competent school community. These practices are designed to create safe and supportive schools and to address the disproportionate suspension of African American and Latino students, as well as any other group of students that is disproportionately disciplined.
SSID - Service Set Identifier - A sequence of characters that uniquely names a wireless local area network (WLAN). An SSID is sometimes referred to as a "network name" or "wifi" name. This allows devices (laptops, smartphones, etc.) to connect to the desired network when multiple networks operate in the same physical area.
SST - Student Success Team. A problem-solving and coordinating structure that assists students, families and teacher to seek solutions to maximize student potential.
STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering & Math.
SWPBIS - School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support. See SSSR above.
TK - Transitional Kindergarten. An EED school housed at a Pre-K or K-5 school site conducting the transitional kindergarten curriculum.
TLEE - Transformative Leadership for Equity and Excellence. SFUSD's leadership support, induction, and incubation program for all new leaders in our system.
UDL - Universal Design for Learning. UDL is a set of principles for curriculum development and delivery that give all students equal opportunities to learn.
VAPA - Visual and Performing Arts. VAPA refers to the disciplines of visual arts, dance, drama/theater, music and literary arts. The VAPA office administers arts programs for district schools and is a part of SFUSD’s Curriculum and Instruction (C & I) office that oversees teaching and learning along with the other academic subjects.
VNC - Virtual Network Computing.
VILS - Verizon’s Innovative Learning Schools. A grant from mobile carrier Verizon managed by Digital Promise to Address the Digital Learning Gap by providing an iPad and data plan to students for always-available access and connect SFUSD with a national community of schools across the country.
VPN - Virtual Private Network. A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network, and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. Applications running on a computing device, e.g. a laptop, desktop, smartphone, across a VPN may therefore benefit from the functionality, security, and management of the private network.
WAP - Wireless Access Point. A networking device that provide a wi-fi signal to nearby devices. See wifi below.
WIFI or WI-FI or WiFi or Wi-Fi - Wireless Fidelity. A technology that allows an electronic device to exchange data wirelessly (using radio waves) over a computer network, also known as wireless network.
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